Serena Ventures Backs 3-On-3 Basketball League Now Valued At $340M
Serena Ventures participated in a series B investment round for the 3-on-3 basketball league Unrivaled. The round was led by Bessemer Venture Partners, and other investors included Warner Bros. Discovery and Alex Morgan’s Trybe Ventures. This latest investment brings the value of Unrivaled to $340 million, which is a historic figure for a young league.
The basketball league is transforming women’s sports by offering female players six-figure salaries, according to Front Office Sports. Athletes earned $220,000 last season, compared to the average of $66,000 to $150,000 in the WNBA.
About Unrivaled
Unrivaled launched in 2023 to help empower athletes as real stakeholders, allowing them to capitalize on their performance. Outside of offering female athletes the highest average salary in professional women’s sports league history, it has a player-first compensation structure, which includes equity stakes for the athletes who participated in the inaugural season.
This latest investment builds on the capital it raised last year, securing investments from industry titans such as Giannis Antetokounmpo and Build Your Legacy Ventures, as well as Ashton Kutcher and several other notable investors.
“We’re continuing to align with partners who elevate our league and accelerate our strategic growth. With Bessemer Venture Partners leading this round, Unrivaled is in an unprecedented position for a new sports league,” Unrivaled President Alex Bazzell said in a press release.
Serena Ventues’ investments
Williams’ portfolio includes over 85 companies, including healthcare startup HUED and Parfait, led by Black women. Remarkably, 14 companies in her portfolio have achieved unicorn status, each valued at over $1 billion. In January, the VC firm participated in a $10 million seed funding for Teal Health – a women’s health startup founded by Kara Egan (CEO) and Dr. Avnesh Thakor.
The venture capital fund recently invested in Khloe Kardashian’s food company, Khloud.
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